John Paul Jones was small and swift, even as the ships he commanded so successfully during the American Revolution. His daring raids, first on enemy vessels, and then on the English coast itself, helped change the course of the Revolution and gave the struggling colonies prestige and glory.

John Paul, the boy, growing up in a simple harbor town in Scotland, longed to go to sea. He was ambitious and dreamed of being a captain. But he never dreamed his life would be as adventurous as it was, and that he would choose a new country for his own, and give the American Navy "its earliest traditions of heroism and victory."

From cabin boy voyages to the Caribbean, to the great battle between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis, this is an outstanding first book, written with impact and vigor.

From the dust jacket